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Board of Education President Laura Kohler in a Midwest state voted against repealing an anti-racist resolution. This was two weeks ago and she is resigning today. This was after the Republican-controlled Senate in that state did indicate it would not confirm her reappointment to the board.

Board of Education President Knew Her Actions Had Repercussions

Kohler said in an interview: “I was aware there would be consequences.” “In fact, I’m a Republican, I knew it was a controversial vote.”

Kohler did help draft Resolution 20 in the weeks after the murder of George Floyd. This document did outline all the ways in which Ohio’s children of color, specifically its Black boys. That offered sub-performance which was compared to their white counterparts. Then, it was urging both the Ohio Department of Education and local school districts to take a tough look into implicit biases. Plus also their questions, disciplinary records, and textbooks.

Pointing out “Perceived” Biases

“Also, the 20 years of data does show that Black and brown children do consistently underperform their white peers,” Kohler said. “They are pointing that out and saying that is not good enough. I ask why is that controversial?”

However, a lot of Republicans did see the resolution as being problematic. In fact, they have said it opened the door to a controversial kind of teaching about history. In addition to racism, and slavery that was anti-American. 

Kohler and the supporters of Resolution 20 firmly believe, that, in fact, was never their intention, but the controversy is continuing to build. 

“Yes, we can nuance the words about precisely what that meant and didn’t mean. Yet, I think discussions about these things and how they are taught to individual students should, in fact, therefore, be determined by the parents of those kids,” Senate President Matt Huffman, a Republican, said.

Giant Social Issues

The state board, in Huffman’s opinion, needs to “stop telling parents how to raise their children” and “stop telling schools boards what to think about this giant social issue.”

In fact, Huffman has therefore made it clear to Kohler that he didn’t like Resolution 20. Therefore, he has also said that Kohler did mishandle the fallout from passing it when she stopped letting people testify.